The Love of Money

The prosperity gospel is very profitable and has resulted in great riches going to the mega-churches , the television evangelical movement and individual pastors.

Religious institutions do not pay any income tax at any level of government. Religious organizations are exempt from a variety of taxes that individuals and businesses are required to pay, like income and property taxes. Faith groups can be exempt from paying taxes solely based on their religious work, not for any other charitable endeavors.

Religious organizations also pay no taxes on their investments, whether it be interest they earn on their investments or in capital gains – the increased value of stock from when the stock was purchased. As such, they are able to invest excess revenue in the stock market or other investment instruments but pay no taxes on the corresponding earnings.

Religious organizations pay no sales tax. This means that, when representatives of a religious entity make a purchase – office supplies, cars or travel, for example – they are exempted from whatever the local sales tax is in that area. They also pay no income taxes for businesses they own, if they can show that the business furthers the objectives of the religion. For example, a bookstore that sells religious books would be exempt.

Religious organizations may pay employment taxes for their employees. However, there are exceptions built into the tax code here as well. Clergy and members of religious orders are the only citizens who can opt out of paying Self-Employed Contributions Act taxes, which are 15.3% taxes on income for self-employed individuals that pay for Social Security and other federal benefits. If religious clergy opt out of the SECA tax, they cannot receive Social Security benefits. Clergy can also deduct the upkeep costs of their “parsonage" – their home or apartment – from their taxable income.

Religious organizations pay no property taxes. Property taxes are primarily used in the U.S. to fund local services like firefighting, emergency medical services and police departments, as well as schools and other infrastructure, all of which religious organizations use.

 Churches and religious organizations – which the IRS loosely defines as entities organized for “religious purposes" or for “advancing religion" – are listed separately from other tax-exempt entities and charities and can be subject to different rules. Some religious congregations do engage in relief efforts for the poor and needy, but many do not. And of the ones that do, many give a very small amount of their revenue for such charitable purposes.

Unlike charities, churches and other places of worship are not required to report any financial information to the IRS. And it can be an onerous process for the IRS to gain approval to audit places of worship, requiring prior evidence of abuse of tax exemptions reported by a high-level Treasury employee.

Religious endowments and investment accounts total in the hundreds of billions of dollars in the U.S.. Just how much money religious organizations have is hard to tell, as churches are not required to report such information. However, the net worth of some well-known pastors, like Kenneth Copeland and Pat Robertson, are estimated to run into the hundreds of millions of dollars.

SOYMB blog can only say that when it comes to taxation and when preachers quote scripture, one verse is ignored, Mark 12:17, "Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's"

Megachurches can be megarich — and the government still gives them a huge break - Alternet.org